Symbiote
by High Roller Yunalesca
Summary: What are bored Gemlings to do when they can't go outside? Look for mischief inside, of course! Little do they know that they've just unleashed a hungry mind-control monster in the process... Rated T for now due to violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Thank God I just happened to finish this first chapter on the 13th anniversary of 9/11. Welp, I might as well dedicate this entire fanfic to the people who not only died on that tragic day, but were also orphaned and widowed that day too. (It only seems fair, after all.)**

**Um, ciao! And I hope you enjoy reading this all the way to the end!**

**-Voltalia**

All seemed well in Beach City since Zoisite was defeated two years ago. Steven and the Crystal Gems went on with their lives, as did the other townspeople in this anything-but-banal Californian landmark. Well, it was only anything but banal because the town was regularly targeted by all sorts of Crystal monsters and Eldritch Abominations, including the arachnid cycloptic Centipeedles. Thus, it was "awarded" its reputation as a disaster magnet and a rather damn scary one at that.

It was pouring outside today, so there weren't any adventures to be had. Therefore, boredom ensued for the younger Gems Steven, Orange Topaz, Aquamarine, and Fluorite.

"So what do you suppose we should do?" Fluorite asked in her usual Joisey accent.

"I can't think of anything right now." Aquamarine answered. "Ask me again later."

Fluorite sighed as she and the other three Gems stared out the window in Steven's "room." It was a real shame the weather had to go and dampen things like this, but the young and petite Orange Topaz wasn't about to give up. She suddenly gasped and ran quickly down the steps.

"Hey, where you going, Topi?" Fluorite asked while coming down after the orange Gem.

"To Tanzie's room!" Topaz perked up. "I think I saw something fun in there once!"

"Really?" Aquamarine asked as she joined in on the chase.

"Must've been red Jello or somethin'." the orange Gem answered as she tried to remember.

Soon, all four of the young Gems were on the ground floor and approaching the door with the five colored gems (red, blue, white, violet, and pink respectively). Steven was the only one tall enough to open the door, and did so with his navel gem. As soon as he had opened the door, the rest of the young Gems swarmed into Tanzanite's (formerly Pearl's) room at once and started searching for the "red Jello."

"You see anything?" Aquamarine asked Topaz as they were searching for their desired object.

Topaz shook her head, but then she said, "I know the Jello's in here..."

After a few minutes, Topaz and the other young Gems caught a glimpse of something red in the corner. It was in a monster bubble for some reason, and the red "Jello" wasn't really Jello at all. It was, in fact, more like a slimy fungal mold with a metallic luster. It seemed so fascinating, so pretty, that it mesmerized the young Gems in an instant. None of them could help themselves; they'd never really seen anything like this and couldn't be certain what to make of it.

"What do you think it is?" Aquamarine asked while staring at the red slimy thing.

"I have no idea." Fluorite responded while simultaneously shaking her head.

"Well, why don't we just find out for ourselves?" Steven asked simply enough. "It can't possibly hurt to know, can it?"

"Hmm..." the other three Gems mused together.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Second chapter's finally up! Yay! Now's probably an opportune time to flesh out a character named Parker Zimmerman (whom you may remember made his debut in _Starchild_) more and introduce another character into the mix. I hope I'm getting better!**

**-Voltalia**

Now with the red slime out of its bubble, fourteen-year-old Steven and the other three Gemlings had to figure out what on Earth they were going to do with it. While this mysterious red goop- or whatever this thing was meant to be -was pretty to look at, it didn't seem to do much. Well, okay, it ciliated around much like a slug would do but that seemed to be it. Touching it seemed to be a no-go because they couldn't be certain whether they'd be able to provoke it or not; plus, given the fact that they weren't really supposed to be inside Tanzanite's room in the first place for whatever reason, they weren't about to tell her what they'd done.

"So now what?" Steven asked while staring at the red slime.

"Well, we can't just stand here and do nothing!" Aquamarine snapped. "Why do you think Topi wanted to come here, huh?"

"You've got a point..."

"Sure I do."

"...but I still don't know. I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Aw, c'mon, Steven! You're kidding me-"

But before Aquamarine could say anything else, the red slime slithered its way towards Fluorite's foot and up her leg.

"What the...?" Fluorite muttered as she watched the red slime crawl its way up her body, while the others watched on speechlessly.

The newfound sensation of the critter's movement sent chills down the bluish-black Gem's spine as it travelled further up, up, up before making its way to her temple. Just before it could navigate its way into her ear, though, Orange Topaz screamed at the mere sight.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Fluorite asked in a blasé manner. "It just slithered up my body, is all."

"Kill it!" Topaz screeched. "Kill it! It's scary!"

The young orange Gem swatted the red slime away, sending it right back down to the floor. Almost immediately after that, it jolted away.

"Thanks, Topi." Aquamarine grumbled. "Thanks a lot. I really appreciate what you just did there..."

Topaz just pursed her lips and tried her best not to burst into tears.

"Alright, why don't we get out of here?" Steven suggested quickly.

"Good thinking..." Aquamarine sighed in frustration.

And so they left in a flash.

* * *

**Later that day...**

Fortunately, the rain outside had stopped now, but they still couldn't have any adventures due to the copious amounts (about one and a half feet at least) of mud packed together on the ground. However, the Gemlings didn't seem concerned about this in the least since now they were keeping themselves occupied with Steven's pink lion. It wasn't long, though, before someone knocked on the door.

"I'll get it!" Tanzanite called out as she approached the door.

She opened up to see Steven's thirty-one-year-old cousin Parker Zimmerman and his girlfriend Monique Stigwood.

Parker was scrawny with just barely a four-pack on him. The short brown hair, the white skin, the boyish face with the pointed nose, and the toothpick arms and legs made him a dead-ringer for a Tobey Maguire lookalike. Monique, on the other hand, just took on a homely appearance with tanned skin, an oval face, a ridged nose, and a thick build.

"Hello." the blue Gem simply greeted the couple. "What brings you here?"

"Well, we just thought we'd stop by while we were in town." Parker answered. "Besides, I could never resist the chance to visit my little cousin and his hot friends."

"Parker..." Monique warned.

"Sorry..." the Tobey Maguire lookalike apologized under his breath.

"Well, come on in." Tanzanite smiled. "It's awfully nice of you to come by on such short notice."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Here's the third chapter! I'm not sure how long this is going to be, but I suspect it'll go over the single-digits when finished. Now I think this also might count as a Halloween story, since y'know... a blob monster. ;3 **

**Anyway, ciao!**

**-Voltalia**

"So what'd you guys do today?" Parker asked his fourteen-year-old cousin Steven.

The two of them were hanging out up in Steven's "room," while everybody else was outside for a small picnic. The thirty-one-year-old Tobey Maguire lookalike had wanted to talk with his favorite cousin alone, since the last time he had dropped by two years ago.

"Nothing much, really." Steven shrugged. "We just hung around and played with Cotton Candy."

"That all?" Parker asked again, a bit let down by the answer he got. "You didn't do anything exciting like go on an adventure or play games?"

"Well..." Steven started remembering what he and the other Gemlings had done earlier. "Topaz wanted to play with some red slime she found in Tanzanite's room..."

The Tobey Maguire lookalike's eyes widened with fascination and he leaned forward a bit. "Red slime?"

"Yeah, red slime." There was a slight pause after that. "And it actually moves! You should see it, Parker! You should see how it moves!"

"I don't know, kiddo." Suddenly, Parker was hesitant about asking further questions about this red slime. "I think I might want to talk to Monique about this first..."

"Why?"

"So I can have a witness with me, that's why!" Parker let a few beads of sweat slide down his face before wiping them away with his sleeve. "Y-Y-You know what I mean?"

"Well, I guess it would be hard to believe someone who said that they saw sentient red slime..." Steven mulled this over for a few minutes before eventually saying, "Okay, I guess I could ask Tanzanite to let you into her room."

* * *

**Later...**

After Tanzanite gave the Tobey Maguire lookalike and his girlfriend permission to enter her room, the couple proceeded to look around for a bit and take in all the marvelous features: the large body of water below, the waterfalls, the floating islands, as well as the cerulean aura emitted throughout the room.

"I can hardly believe Pearl let Tanzanite have this room..." Parker murmured. "Isn't it just amazing?"

"Yeah, it is pretty cool." Monique admitted.

"Look..." Parker slowly pointed at the red blob moving in the distance.

"What in the...?"

"That's that red slime Steven told me about."

Monique turned to face him with suspicion. "Red... slime?" she asked increduously. "That what you just said?"

"Yeah, seriously."

"I think we're gonna have to get a closer look. It's a bit... strange."

"Good idea."

They ventured closer and closer to the red slime, as did it to them, until it barely touched their feet. The couple couldn't be sure about what to do with it since it was unlike anything they had encountered before, but they didn't want to just stand there and look at it either. So Monique bent down and scooped up the blob with her hands.

"Wow..." Monique gasped as she felt the red slime pulsate in her hands. "Your cousin wasn't kidding..."

"I know, right?" her boyfriend chirped.

Suddenly, the blob leapt up to her face and made its way up her nostrils, forcing her to scream.

"Monique!" Parker yelled out. "Monique, are you okay?"

"I...I think so..." she struggled.

"Well..." Parker said. "...that was interesting. C'mon, babe, let's get outta here."

He put his hand on her shoulder and they made tracks.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: I'm back! First off, according to Trollface Mastah, this is apparently a rip-off of the third Sam Raimi-directed ****_Spider-Man _****movie. Yeah sure, pal, and the two ****_Topaz _****stories Star wrote****rip off ****_Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children_****. Secondly, if you're confused about the name "Red Antimony," it's an alternative name for kermesite (because it's usually red and it's composed of antimony oxides). And finally... enjoy!**

**-Voltalia**

A little while later, Tanzanite went back into her room. It was nice to work in some alone time every once in a while; after all, being in charge can drain a lot out of you. She first looked over all there was to be seen, from the waterfalls to what remained of Pearl's sword collection to the large pool of water below, before walking over to where she had last seen that red blob. To her shock, though, it was gone!

"Oh Marble..." she muttered anxiously. "Red Antimony somehow escaped... they're not going to like this..." She craned her neck, as if to look out at the other side. "What in the world am I supposed to do? Hopefully, I can do something before this situation goes beyond my control."

She sighed deeply and covered her face with her hands. How could've she let this happen? She had to think of what to tell her fellow Queens Garnet and Pearl, and she had to think of it carefully. Otherwise, only the Venerable Goddess knew what was going to happen. Soon enough, she climbed up onto the dimensional transporter and warped off to her ancestral dimension Mineralis.

When she arrived, she just happened to be in front of the Roman-columned royal palace.

_Now that was convenient._ she thought. _I just need to have a talk with them now._

She walked inside to find the seven-months-pregnant white Gem Queen Pearl sitting alongside Garnet, her wife of one month and hot pink co-Queen. The two Queens just happened to be talking amongst themselves when they suddenly noticed their old friend's entrance.

"Tanzanite!" Pearl shouted. "How nice of you to come see us!"

"Thank you." the blue Gem quietly answered. "Actually, there's something I need to bring to your attention."

"Yes?" Garnet asked immediately.

"It's about Red Antimony..."

"And what about her?"

"She escaped from the bubble you encased her in. I don't know how, but she did."

As soon as those words escaped Tanzanite's mouth, Pearl gasped.

"Oh God, this is terrible..." Pearl groaned after hanging her head down. "Why didn't we just burn the goddamn blob immediately instead of putting her aside for only Granite knows how long...?"

"And especially after what she had done to Amethyst before we had the high priestess transform her into that perpetually hungry blob parasite... poor girl..."

The other two Gems in the room bowed their heads in silence as they recollected that awful night in the Temple of the Venerable Goddess.

* * *

_One of the priestesses, a Gem named Red Antimony, had had a little bit much to drink during a religious ceremony that involved sacrificing animals, and just happened to stumble across a young Amethyst. The violet Gem was under the influence of dried Archaeopteryx dung, so she hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings and especially when Antimony started hitting on her._

_"Has anybody told you how ripe and juicy you are?" Antimony had asked seductively._

_Amethyst had laughed at this due to how high she was, and... well, Antimony didn't take it well. The red Gem quickly threw herself onto the young violet Gem, and almost effortlessly conquered her._

_Upon hearing Amethyst scream out in horror, Kunzite and Sulphur had run over and saw their comrade, their fellow priestess, taking advantage of a Gem who hadn't come of age yet. In pure righteous and furious anger, they pushed the cherry red Gem away from the young Amethyst and had her thrown out permanently; but not before the high priestess, a pale yellow Gem named Valentinite, inflicted a spell onto the guilty Antimony that turned her into a parasitic blob creature (which happened to be native to the grounds Chalcopyrite and Calaverite were built on) that would always have to feed on a host or else it would die._

_Just as a precaution, Garnet decided that the best course of action would be to wipe Amethyst's memory of the horrific event to spare her the trauma and emotional damage that always ensued from these things. So she did, and Amethyst hadn't been able to remember what Antimony had done to her ever since._

* * *

"Is there anything we can do about this?" Tanzanite asked once they were done remembering.

"Has she already taken over anybody?" Pearl asked curiously. "Because if she has, then we're probably doomed."

"Well, I don't know..."

"You don't...? Oh Granite..."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I'm sure you've all heard by now that my baby doll Star is leaving the ****_Steven Universe _****fandom, and for good no less. You've probably also heard that life is getting in the way for him, so he can't really focus on his fanfics right now. Well, if you can, read ****_The Pursuit of Happiness _****as it is so far and tell my man I sent you.**

**Anyway, I've finally finished chapter 5 of this thing. If anybody asks when this fanfic will be finished (since I've had to deal with a lot myself, not to mention I'll be going to a wedding Saturday), it'll probably be ****_very _****near Halloween at the very least. After all, this is a Halloween fanfic, too. ;)**

**Well, ciao!**

**-Voltalia**

Meanwhile, everything seemed fine. Steven had left with Amethyst to go out on a double date with Peedee and Atari, the other Gemlings were outside with Jade and Parker and Monique had just happened to join them at the last minute.

"Aren't you girls glad to be outside today?" Parker asked.

"Yeah!" everybody else answered in unison.

"That's good." the scrawny man said. "Now we can have fun."

Monique laughed wildly at this. "Of course we're gonna have fun, silly! Why'd you think you guys came out here?" She slapped Parker so hard in the back that it actually left a stinging red handprint, making him cringe.

"Hey, Jade, what's wrong with Monique?" Aquamarine asked the former green gladiatress in a low whisper. "I don't think I've seen her act this way before."

"How would you know?" Jade whispered back. "It's not every day we see her tagging along with Jack Skellington here."

"Eh... I guess you're right. But something's still wrong here."

Jade waved off the sky-blue Gemling dismissively. "Alright, I get it. Now stop worrying and try having fun, why don't you?"

Aquamarine groaned at this and curled herself up into a ball out of boredom. Wow, had this day been agonizing so far or what? Neither she nor the other Gemlings could think much else of what to do now. Once again, revealing everything seemed out of the question since God forbid they get themselves into trouble for unleashing a monster that could potentially threaten the entire human race; then again, keeping quiet wouldn't get anywhere either, but they'd have to go with the latter for now. After all, it only seemed like a matter of time before something disastrous would happen.

"Hey, guys!" Monique called out to the sky-blue and green Gems. "I've got an idea!"

"What do you want?" Aquamarine snapped at the tan woman.

"How about...?" Monique trailed off and bit the left corner of her lip. She then giggled like mad, while her body trembled excitedly.

Jade and Aquamarine tilted their heads in confusion and waited for Monique to finish her train of thought.

"How about we run off all the way down there and trying catching some fish with our bare hands?" Monique resumed while pointing to the very end of the sandy corridor on the left, still giggling like a little girl on a sugar high while she did.

Aquamarine couldn't help but crane her neck at her gladiatress friend and ask in a bout of more confusion, "All the way down there? That where she wants us to go?"

"Sounds fishy, I know." Jade agreed. "Trust me. I don't want to be caught in that position again."

"Oh, it's okay if you don't want to." Monique shrugged in defeat with a smile. She then turned to Parker and asked, "What about you, big man? You wanna go down there and catch some fish with me?"

Parker couldn't stop himself from shaking. He had been waiting for her to ask something like that for a long time, especially since he was always so sure they'd be doing something extra at the end that he just couldn't say no. So he answered, "I-I'd love to!"

Monique firmly grasped both of her lover's hands and she pulled him up into a stand.

"Come on then..." she wheedled seductively.

She walked all the way back to that very end, all the while in reverse gear, with the thin thirty-one-year-old man following right along.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this out! I've got a life to tend to, especially community college. Speaking of, one of my classes (Success in College) ran its eight-week course and now I've got a bit more time for studying! Hopefully, I'll work on this some more during fall break.**

**Well, ciao!**

**-Voltalia**

As the couple made their way to that very end, Monique kept giggling madly to herself and licking her lips profusely.

"What's with those slurping sounds?" Parker asked his love.

"What? Oh, I'm just excited that we're gonna do more than catch fish." she smiled with an intoxicating sugary intonation voice.

"We're gonna eat the fish?" he asked in confusion.

The tan homely girl giggled just a bit more. "No..."

"Then what are we doing?"

"You'll see..."

Parker had thought at that moment that there was something sinister about what she had just said, but he shrugged it off and they proceeded to put their hands into the water. Not long after that, Monique felt something wriggling in her hands and scooped it up to reveal a small Spotted Bay Bass fish.

"How did you...?"

"Just Stigwood luck, I guess."

"Can I have it?"

"NO!" She then shoved the entire fish into her mouth and somehow swallowed it whole without even choking once (even Parker was shocked by this, to say the least) and licked her lips happily. "Now kiss me, you fool!"

"I don't know, Monique..." Parker's eyes darted back and forth uncomfortably. "I mean, I just watched you swallow an entire fish whole and-"

"Come on..." Monique pleaded while batting her eyelashes in a flirtatious manner. "You're not going to fight back, are you?"

Parker tried shifting away before the tan girl grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back. He was struggling to break himself free, but as he was doing this, her grip tightened more and more. He couldn't believe this... Monique seemed to be turning into one of those Xenomorph aliens from the feel of things, but how could it be so? She then pounced him hard enough that she nearly bent his entire ribcage backwards and punctured his lungs.

"Get off of me!" he screamed. "Get off!"

"Why?" she asked as if she had been totally oblivious this whole time.

"You're crushing me!" he continued to scream. Then he turned his head to find Mr. Smiley who just happened to be walking along. "Someone help me!"

The large black man stopped and turned to see Monique crushing her boyfriend with her own weight.

"The hell?" he mouthed while staring at the woman, who by now was beginning to cry out ungodly guttural screams and squeals.

He jumped over the steel rail and ran as fast as he could before finally tackling the woman and pinning her down on the sandy ground. But Monique didn't take kindly to this and slammed her foot into Mr. Smiley's doughnut holes, forching him to let her go and reel from the pain. She then proceeded to roll over, top him, wrap her hands around his neck and then start strangling him; all while this was going on, Parker got up and ran off to get help.

"God...damn it, woman..." Mr. Smiley managed to utter while Monique was strangling him before grabbing an empty beer bottle and socking it across her face, shattering the whole thing except for its thin neck and simultaneously releasing her deadly grip from his neck.

"Ow!" she yelped as she cringed from the gash on her face. "What was that for?"

"Dammit, woman!" Mr. Smiley screamed. "Do you know who you're dealing with?"

Monique just tilted her head while the large black man kicked her up into the air and backward by seven-and-a-half feet with the combined muscle power of both of his feet and his legs.


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as Monique hit the ground, a loud krunking sound filled her ears. She proceeded to get up and scratch at a spot on her aching spine, giving Mr. Smiley ample time to jump over the railing and prepare to attack her again. Out of the blue, she was able to sense this and utilized an opportunity to jump up and away and land her feet onto Mr. Smiley's shiny head.

"Son of a...!" Mr. Smiley yelled a few seconds after that.

"You can't catch me!" Monique shouted from behind in a sing-song voice as she was galloping away.

But before she could fully make her escape, she bumped into Kiki, a Pizza daughter.

"Um, hello..." the Ghanaian girl said rather awkwardly.

"Hi there!" the tan woman perked up. "Would you like to play with me?"

"...what?"

"I said, 'Would you like to play with me?'"

"I don't even..."

She didn't even finish her sentence before Monique lifted her up into the air and threw her at the raging Mr. Smiley, somehow managing to knock him to the ground and make him unconscious. A stunned Kiki got up and ran up close to Ms. Monique Stigwood who seemed rather blithe about the whole thing.

"What the hell did you just do?" Kiki asked with her head quizzically tilted to one side.

"I don't know." Monique shrugged while tilting her head to the side as well.

Then out of the blue, Monique started beating the crap out of Kiki and laughing in Satanic glee. The tan woman repeatedly fisted down on the Ghanaian girl's body, each time leaving a broken blood vessel beneath the skin and nearly breaking her bones. Kiki could only struggle to fight back and simultaneously scream in pain as this was going on. She couldn't even tell what was happening right now, but she knew it wasn't going to end well.

"What do you want from me?!" Kiki screamed at the top of her lungs.

But Monique didn't answer. Instead, she stopped punching the crap out of her victim and picked her up again. Before she could do anything, however, Parker suddenly showed up with Tanzanite and Jade.

"Oh my Goddess!" Tanzanite yelled. "What are you doing?!"

Monique instantly turned around and kicked the blue Gem across the face, knocking her down to the ground. As the prim and proper Gem was picking herself up, the infected girlfriend was preparing to knock someone else down. So Monique threw the battered young Ghanaian right at her boyfriend's face, which sent him head-first into the concrete and knocked him out cold but not before first having him bleed from the wound at the back of his skull.

"Alright, now you're going too far!" Jade yelled. "Prepare to face the wrath of my hammer!"

The moment she said that, she summoned her Thor's Hammer from her left elbow and threw it right at Monique's chest, sending her back about three feet.

"Careful, Jade!" Tanzanite yelled when she had finally gotten up. "We don't want to spill too much human blood!"

_Actually, wait a minute._ the blue Gem started thinking to herself. _Human blood is usually red...red as in Red Antimony or Kermesite, whom we had turned into a parasite...that's now wreaking havoc in Parker's girlfriend! That's it! It makes sense now!_

While this was going on, Monique had just gotten back up and started whaling on the green gladiatress Gem who had only been getting started. Tanzanite proceeded to join in on this by summoning her umbrella from the palm of her right hand, opening it and then cocking it towards her target.

"Jade, would you be so kind as to back away?" Tanzanite asked softly as she had her umbrella-gun pointed at Monique.

Right afterwards, she pulled the "trigger" and blasted out some concussive beams. To her confusion, though, Monique was able to dodge these beams surprisingly well; although more than anything else, it probably had to do with the invincibility Red Antimony had somehow given to her host while she was eating away at her brain. When shooting beams at the enemy didn't work out, Tanzanite opted to go ahead and try jamming the tip into the shoulder while Jade made a secret under-hand throw of her Thor's Hammer at the tan woman's tailbone.

But before any of that could happen, someone else had joined them. It appeared to be Aquamarine, but with the other Gemlings _and_ Steven and Amethyst following right behind her!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: I think I might end this fanfic on Chapter 10. So then... we're near the end of this thing, everybody! And it just so happens to be six days 'til Halloween!**

**Ciao for the moment!**

**-Voltalia**

"What's going on?" Aquamarine asked as she watched this whole scene unfold before her.

"Well, you unleashed a parasitic monster that might spell the end of humanity as we know it." Tanzanite answered as calmly as she could without exploding in rage. "I guess _that_ answers your question?"

"...what?"

"That red goop you found in the bubble... that used to be a Gem who had done one of the most atrocious things ever conceived."

"But why?"

"I can't say, but it had something to do with being drunk and giving in to carnal pleasures."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Amethyst suddenly asked.

"Never mind that." Tanzanite answered dismissively. "Steven, just do what you have to do and lick your cousin and Kiki back to health."

Steven went ahead and did just that, managing to heal them almost instantly and get them back on their feet.

Parker was the first to speak up after sticking his tongue out in disgust. "Hey, Steven, what'd you just do?"

"What do you mean?" Steven asked. "I just wanted to make sure everybody was okay by using my magic healing spit, that's all." He merely shrugged a bit after that statement. "I don't see why I wouldn't."

Parked spoke again. "Yeah, whatever. What's wrong with my girlfriend?"

"She's been possessed by a parasite that's hungry on brains." Tanzanite was quick to answer.

"Wait, aren't you talking about the monster from 'The Thing?'"

"No, this one's different. She used to be a Gem just like us."

"Like you?" Kiki asked dubiously.

But before Tanzanite could elucidate further, Monique started rushing at her, finally giving the blue Gem her opportunity to stab through the tan woman's left breast. After Tanzanite had done so, she signaled everybody present to run and follow her back at the Temple in order to get away. They all did as they were told, and before long they'd left Monique in the dust and found themselves inside.

"Okay, now what?" Kiki asked out of curiosity. "We outran the bitch, so what do we do?"

"We must go inside Garnet's old room." Tanzanite answered with a dash of overconfidence. "We'll probably be safe there if Red Antimony hasn't already gained access to her powers."

"Wait a damn minute..." Amethyst murmurred. "Why does that sound familiar?" She was clearly trying to remember something, but it somehow wasn't coming to her.

"Yeah, quick question." Parker spoke up after a minute. "Who's Red Antimony and why are you referring to her as a monster who used to be a Gem?"

"Because she _is_ a monster, Parker!" Tanzanite snapped. "We had her morph permanently into a parasitic lifeform after she took advantage of one of the children!"

"If she was truly that horrible, why didn't you just have her killed right then and there?" Kiki interjected. "That way, you'd never have to worry about her doing it to any other child again."

Out of the blue, Tanzanite's eyes widened and she visibly paled. None of the Gems who had punished the priestess nor the Gems who had witnessed the event from beginning to end had really thought about it, especially since it was against their code to partake in murder. Maybe none of this would be happening right now if they had just made that one exception. Dear God, what had they done?

But there was not enough time to think further on that as they suddenly heard Monique scream in rage outside, and they headed straight for the door with the five gems.


	9. Chapter 9

Now that everybody was inside Garnet's room, they seemed absolutely sure that Monique could never be able to get in... that is, until they turned around and saw the tan woman right behind them with one of her hands lifting Mr. Smiley up into the air by the collar of his shirt.

"Monique?" Parker whimpered. "Please don't hurt us..."

Monique only snarled at this before proceeding to walk around and right in front of them.

"C'mon, Monique..." the Tobey Maguire lookalike pleaded. "I know you're in there somewhere. You gotta fight back!"

It only fell on deaf ears as Monique made her first move and kicked Parker across the face, dropping the big black man to the ground. The scrawny thirty-one-year-old Parker started getting back up before she stomped down on his head and leaped forward at the Gems. Most of them managed to get away, all except for Amethyst who found herself pinned down to the ground in an instant. Right afterwards, though, the violet Gem slammed her foot into Monique's chest and threw her across the room, just barely a few inches away from the lava pit.

"Amethyst, no!" Tanzanite screamed as she watched the fight unfurl before her eyes.

"Don't worry, T!" Amethyst yelled from the other side. "I got this!"

"I hope so, too!" Jade shouted at her violet friend. "Otherwise, the whole world is doomed!"

With that said, Amethyst proceeded to collect as much willpower and strength as she could to even begin to be as powerful as her Purple Puma persona and start beating the crap out of her opponent. Monique did her best to fight back but the odds seemed way too overwhelming. Nonetheless, the tan woman managed to break away while in a headlock and unleash her new Gem powers. Wait a minute... _Gem powers?!_

"Wha...what?" Aquamarine sputtered out, flabbergasted at the whole thing. "I thought she was just some parasite! Since when did she...!"

But before the teenage sky-blue Gem could continue with her thoughts, Monique swung her Gem weapon (a shillelagh) at her head, only to miss and whack Fluorite in the face instead. Despite her nose being crooked to one side now, the bluish-black Gem seemed relatively unfazed by this and proceeded to join in on the fight. Everybody else watched in forebodement as the two Gems tried desperately to subdue the nearly-invulnerable but dying human woman and her staff. But no matter what they did, Monique always seemed to brush it off and keep going.

"How is it even possible for her to be as strong as Zoisite?" Fluorite asked Amethyst in bewilderment as the battle went on. "At least he could strip us of our powers."

"I don't know and I don't care!" Amethyst simply responded.

Immediately afterwards, the violet Gem picked up Monique like a ragdoll and threw her right across the room again, nearly knocking out everybody else in the process.

"Enough is enough! I have had it with this _goddamn_ woman kicking our _goddamn_ asses!" Mr. Smiley yelled.

"Yeah, what are we waiting for?" Kiki piped up. "Let's get her!"

"No..." Steven shook his head in disbelief. "Don't do this. There's gotta be a way to save her..."

Tanzanite could tell he wanted to salvage whatever was left of the human woman, but the blue Gem knew it couldn't be.

"I wish I could say the same, too..." Tanzanite spoke in a low voice. "...but even if we could save her, she'd have to spend the rest of her life as a vegetable."

"Please tell me this won't be Pearl the Elder all over again..." Steven was on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry, boy..."

"Oh God no... I don't think Mom would've liked this at all..."

Steven found himself interrupted when Monique grabbed him from behind and started choking him.

"Oh no you don't!" Amethyst yelled as she summoned her whip and wrapped around Monique's neck, freeing her beloved Steven in the process. "Your ass is _mine!"_

The purple Gem then dragged Monique over to her and started choking her further.

"Dear Angel Quartz..." Amethyst seethed quietly as she proceeded to strangle the life out of the tan woman with her whip. "...please forgive me for what I'm doing. But I'm only doing this as a favor to all of humankind and to all of us Gems... just so we never have to face this kind of threat again."

All the while, Monique was struggling for air in vain while the combination of sturdy rope and sharp, jagged amethyst crystals dug into her windpipe and the rest of her neck; they were crushed with such great force that there were beyond repair. Within a few moments, Monique Stigwood was an ex-person. Amethyst then proceeded to chuck the corpse into the lava pit and watch as it caught on fire while sinking into what seemed like an infinite chasm.

**Author's Note: Only one more chapter to go! By the way, in just two days, Jude and I will have our seven-month anniversary! ^_^**

**Happy Halloween, everybody!**

**-Voltalia**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Alright! This is the very last chapter! I'm sure this'll provide _some _closure on things. Plus, I finished it just in time for Halloween! :D**

**But anyway, _Young and Beautiful _is up next and I hope to get it up within the next week or so. And to answer your question, Trollface-Mastah, yes I will expand on Aunt Carole and her family. They'll kinda be... the tagalong foils to the Crystal Gems. So yes, I'm going to see to it _Young and Beautiful _is marginally better than this one.**

**But until then, bye!**

**~Voltalia**

* * *

**Ten days later...**

Tanzanite had just finished relaying the last week's events to her Queens Pearl and Garnet, who had seemed rather curious on how she and the crew had been handling things on Earth. Needless to say, the two Queens didn't like what they were hearing.

"I'm sorry we couldn't do anything to save poor Monique..." Tanzanite shook her head. "Pearl, I know I taught you that whenever something like this came up, we should do everything in our power to fix the situation no matter what. But I couldn't. It was beyond my control, and the worst part about this... none of this would've happened if we'd just killed Red Antimony right away..."

Tanzanite began to cry and she embraced her student, the white Gem Queen, slowly and delicately.

"Garnet, what would you make of this?" Pearl asked her wife.

"Honestly, I don't know what would've been worse, but let us never speak of this catastrophe ever again." Garnet spoke up monotonously.

"Agreed!" the other two people in the room chimed in.

* * *

**Meanwhile at Beach City...**

The other Gems were making a valiant effort to go on with their lives; well, almost all of them. Diamond had only now just come back from a five-month-long solo mission in Siberia, so she couldn't really understand what all the fuss about some "red jelly" and a "monstrous parasite" was about. As for the rest of Beach City, while they hadn't been as traumatized as they had been during the "Zoisite Massacre" two years ago, now they were so paranoid about there being another attack that you could barely see anybody getting out of their homes (or workplaces) anymore. And Parker was nowhere to be seen; he had already left the place after attending a memorial service for his lost Monique.

Steven and the rest of the Gems (save for Tanzanite) were in the Temple, gathered around the TV and watching reruns of _The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air_ as a means of levity. Steven had always found the show to be hilarious for one reason or another; after all, Rose used to watch it frequently with Greg and his aunt and her family before her big sacrifice. But would the Crystal Gems really be able to cope with what they had just gone through just by laughing at Uncle Phil's funny jokes alone?

"Y'know, I can't help but feel sympathetic for Carlton sometimes." Jade commented.

"Why is that?" Diamond asked in confuzzlement.

"Because he always feels like he's a second banana to Will or something, I don't know. He looks very human for a banana."

"What are you saying? You think you're inferior to Tanzanite?"

"Maybe. At least it's not as terrible as when Pearl and Amethyst clash."

"Yeah, I suppose so..." Diamond's train of thought suddenly wandered off as she caught a glimpse of Kiki entering from the porch. "Hold on."

In the process of showing off her slender 7'2" frame, the former Gem Queen proceeded to get up and approach the Ghanaian girl.

"Diamond, what are you doing here?" Kiki asked. "I didn't think you'd come back from your mission in Russia."

"Neither did I." Diamond said. "After that battle with this giant Gem horseshoe scorpion and some wapitis and manguts, I had to swim all the way to Alaska and trek all across the West Coast- on foot, no less -just to get here. But anyway, what are _you_ doing here?"

"I... just wanted to thank you guys for saving me and Mr. Smiley and all that. I'm not sure what we would've done without you."

"Ah. Well, thank you. But you two managed to put up a pretty good fight, too."

There was a brief pause after that.

"Alright, it was nice seeing you, Kiki."

"You too, Diamond. I'll just go home and call Parker real quick."

"What about Ronaldo? Aren't you two dating?"

"What?"

"You and Ronaldo. You two are dating, yes?"

"Not anymore, no. We broke up. I guess our worlds were just too different. Anyway, bye."

With that, Kiki turned around and walked out.

"Well, that was nice of Kiki to drop by." Steven had been paying attention to the conversation the entire time. "I wonder if the rest of the Pizza family is just as grateful."

"I wonder if _anybody's_ grateful." Diamond retorted as she rejoined the group that was watching _Fresh Prince_.

Ah well, at least they had each other to lean on.


End file.
